The BNP show they are the minority in Barking and Dagenham as their local Rally is drowned out my 100s of Anti-Fascists.
A crowd of 500 strong anti-fascists including trade unionists, students, members of the black community and local residents came together on Saturday 9th December in Central Park Dagenham to protest against the Fascist BNP.
The BNP showed themselves to be the minority in Barking and Dagenham by only mobilising a crowd of 50 or so activists after several weeks of campaigning, boasting that they had leafleted all the wards in the borough which advertised the Rally.
Since before the elections the BNP have spread the racist myth that African immigrants are receiving grants to move into the borough. This was the main issue of their rally, calling for local residents who were fed up with immigrants getting housing before the white “indigenous” people of Barking and Dagenham. The numbers attending the Rally showed just how Barking and Dagenham has rejected the lies being pushed by the BNP in the borough. The truth is in fact that the BNP do not care about issues surrounding housing in the borough, they only wish to use these concerns to whip up racism and to divide the community. During the full meeting of the Barking and Dagenham Council on the 6 December, fascist councillors voted against an amendment calling on the government to lift the cap restricting the ability of councils to build new housing.
The anti-fascist protest, called by Unite Against Fascism was heavily supported by local branches of National Unions, including GMB London Region, TGWU South East and East Anglia Region and UNISON London Region, South East Region TUC, the CWU and the UCU, Other groups present included Queen Mary University student union, Respect councillors and activists from across east London, including the Barking and Dagenham Alliance Against Racism and Fascism, Love Music Hate Racism and the National Assembly Against Racism as well as Young London Labour Party supporters.
Richard Barnbrook, the leader of the BNP’s council group in Barking & Dagenham, struggled to make himself heard to the small crowd of fascists that gathered in a car park near Dagenham civic centre. His words were drowned out by the chorus of anger and ridicule from the anti-fascists. The BNP supporters eventually filed away, visibly disappointed and uncomfortable. The UAF protest showed the BNP that they are the minority in Barking and Dagenham, this is just the start of a unified, active anti-fascist movement in the borough, wherever the BNP mobiles, we will mobiles more to show them that they are the minority and not welcome in our multicultural Barking and Dagenham.
